


Life is easier in the woods

by JJ_Smith



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: F/M, Hospitals, Hurt Stiles, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-27
Updated: 2015-11-27
Packaged: 2018-05-03 15:12:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5296175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JJ_Smith/pseuds/JJ_Smith
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Life is easier in the woods. In the woods there isn’t a need for maths and history; no need for dressing right; no need for behaving the way people expect you to. The woods are all about keeping yourself alive, and that’s it. Yes, life is easier in the woods.<br/>Another thing the woods lack, is a hospital. Hospitals are truly evil, Malia decides. Sure, the doctors help people, but waiting in the too white hallways is much, much worse than anything she’s ever felt.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Life is easier in the woods

**Author's Note:**

> So, I'm finally posting fic again. Damn you depression and school. Stalia this time, which features Stiles almost dying. :( But he doesn't, don't worry. I hope you enjoy it. If you do, please let me know!

Life is easier in the woods. In the woods there isn’t a need for maths and history; no need for dressing right; no need for behaving the way people expect you to. The woods are all about keeping yourself alive, and that’s it. Yes, life is easier in the woods.

Another thing the woods lack, is a hospital. Hospitals are truly evil, Malia decides. Sure, the doctors help people, but waiting in the too white hallways is much, much worse than anything she’s ever felt.

“Malia, come sit down,” Kira says softly.

Malia shakes her head and continues pacing. She can’t sit down. Sitting down would mean sitting still, and sitting still would be absolutely impossible.

“At least change your clothes,” Lydia says.

Again, Malia shakes her head. She’s all too aware of the state of her clothes; the blood that’s soaking right through it, staining her skin. A part of her wants to rip them all off, leave them behind and never look at them again. Another part, a much bigger part, needs the smell that clings to her clothes; the smell of Stiles, her Stiles. As long as she can smell him, his blood, he’s still alive. He has to be alive.

There’s a hand on her shoulder suddenly. Malia turns around to attack whatever body is attached to the hand, when she’s met with red eyes.

“We’re getting you cleaned up. Maybe there’s news when we get back,” Scott says.

Even though his voice sounds as warm and kind as usual, Malia knows it’s an order. She knows she can’t ignore a direct order from her alpha, and she’s not in any mood to fight him. She may not know much about humans, but even she can see that Scott is tense and just as nervous as she is. After all Stiles is his best friend. So, she doesn’t put up a fight and lets Scott drag her along to some dressing room. He says something about how he knows this place because of his mother, but Malia can’t really pay attention.

“He’s only human,” she says. It’s the first time she’s spoken since arriving in the hospital. Malia’s always been a fan of Stiles’ awkward humanness. She loves how she can easily pick him up and carry him around, how there’s very little he can do about it. She’s a lot stronger than him, and even though Stiles protests in public Malia knows he loves that she’s stronger.

“He’ll be okay, he’s tough,” Scott says.

“But he’s human! He’s not tough like us. He’s fragile and he doesn’t heal. He’s not strong and he gets hurt!” It’s hard keeping it together when her entire body’s screaming at her to seek out Stiles and hold him close again. He’s her world and it’s not something she’s used to. She’s been on her own for so long that it’s hard dealing with the fact that she cares so deeply about someone else.

“He’ll be okay,” Scott repeats.

“What if he won’t?!” She snaps, her eyes flashing blue. “What if he dies?!”

Scott’s look is enough to tell Malia that he feels the same as she does. The thought of possibly losing Stiles is as heartbreaking for him as is it for her.

“I’m sorry,” she apologizes. It’s another foreign thing for her. She now not only cares for people other than herself, she wants to apologize when she hurts them.

“Let’s just get you cleaned up. I’ll find you some clean scrubs, showers are through there,” Scott says, gesturing to somewhere behind Malia.

It’s almost painful to take off the clothes. They’re almost completely soaked through with Stiles’ blood. There’s no way she could get all the blood out, and even if she could, Malia doubts she’ll want to wear them again. The best option is getting rid of them altogether and dumping them in a bin.

When she steps under the shower she can feel her muscles start to relax. Against all her instincts, she let’s go of her worries about Stiles and relaxes. She closes her eyes and leans back, letting the water wash away the splatters of Stiles’ blood that cover her face. It’s a decision she regrets within seconds. The moment she closes her eyes, it’s like she’s back in the forest with the rogue omega attacking them.

It would have been so easy to kill him, but Scott had insisted they try to talk some sense into him. So, they fought without hurting the omega too badly; they fought to capture and not to kill. Suddenly things got out of control. The omega broke through their ranks and attacked Stiles, slashing deeply into his stomach. Malia saw red, instantly forgetting Scott’s orders as she burst forward and tore out the omega’s throat. She didn’t stop for a second before going to Stiles, pushing against his bloody stomach to try to stop the bleeding.

The smell of Stiles’ blood is still stuck in her nose and she can still hear the painful whimpers he let out. She remembers begging Stiles not to die. She remembers Lydia calling for help. She remembers picking Stiles up and running through the woods to meet the ambulance.

It’s Scott who tears her away from her memories. She’s curled up on the floor when Scott gently touches her shoulder.

“He’s still alive, Malia, he’s fighting,” Scott says. “Breathe, it’s okay.”

Malia nods, trying so hard to get her head out of the woods.

“Come on, you’re clean now. Do you want me to get one of the girls to help you?” Scott asks.

Malia shakes her head. She doesn’t care about Scott seeing her naked. It’s always been silly to her how much humans care about nudity, but especially now it’s ridiculous. She can’t imagine having anyone else by her side right now than her alpha.

Scott turns off the shower and helps her stand up. He gently guides her through the process of drying herself off and getting dressed. Some sort of food is put in her hand, and she eats it without tasting anything. Before long Scott guides her back to the waiting room, where the rest of the pack is waiting in silence for news of Stiles.

A year ago Malia would have found a chair separate from the rest of the group and curled up, now she’s actively seeking out the comfort of the pack by sitting down between Kira and Lydia. Without asking for it, both girls lean in to comfort Malia. Kira rests her head on Malia’s shoulder while Lydia takes her hand.

“It doesn’t feel like he’s dying,” Lydia says. “It’s not an exact science, but it doesn’t feel like death.”

Malia nods, holding onto Lydia’s words like they’re a lifeline. She can’t do much more than hope right now, and she’s never been good at the whole hope thing.

It’s Liam that falls asleep first, two hours into Stiles’ surgery. Malia knows she can’t blame him, the fight was intense and took a lot out of all of them, but she still does. Stiles is in danger and he shouldn’t be able to sleep until Stiles is safely out of surgery. Half an hour later Kira falls asleep too and Malia’s no longer angry. The only thing that’s stopping her from falling asleep too is her worry over Stiles. Another hour later she and Scott are the only ones still awake, though they’re both close to nodding off.

Finally Melissa comes to them with news. “He’s out of surgery,” she tells them. “He’s going to need a long time to recover, but he should make it just fine.”

Both Malia and Scott relax visibly.

“Can we see him?” Malia asks.

“One of you can go to him. He’s still asleep, and he needs his rest, so try not to wake him up,” she tells him.

“You should go,” Scott tells her.

“But you’re his alpha,” Malia says, to her own surprise. She wants nothing more than to see Stiles right now, and yet she’s suggesting her alpha sees him first.

“You’re his girlfriend, go,” Scott says again.

Malia hesitates for all of three seconds before she worms her way out from under Kira. Scott sees her struggle and takes over her place, so Kira can continue sleeping on his shoulder.

Melissa leads Malia to Stiles’ room. The sight that meets her, is terrifying. Stiles is even paler than usual. He looks so tiny on the bed, so fragile. The fear must be visible on her face, because Melissa squeezes her shoulder.

“He’s going to be fine,” she says. “He’ll need some time to recover, but he’s going to be fine.”

Malia hesitantly walks towards Stiles and pulls up a chair next to him. It’s so scary seeing him like this. She’s always been aware that Stiles is more fragile, more easily hurt, but seeing it like this… it’s heartbreaking. She reaches out carefully to touch his hand, almost expecting it to be freezing cold, like it would be if he had died. She lets out a painful whimper, she can’t stand her mate being hurt.

She doesn’t know if it’s smart, but she crawls up in bed with Stiles, making sure not to put any weight on him. She wants to be close, needs it even.

Eventually the Sheriff comes in. He’d been out of town when Stiles had gotten hurt and hurried over as quickly as he could.

Malia doesn’t move. She stays by Stiles’ side, ready to protect him from the world, should he need it.

Others visit as well, and still she doesn’t move. Several nurses try to get her to move, but she doesn’t. She doesn’t close an eye the entire night as she continues to monitor Stiles. She makes sure he’s still breathing and he isn’t in too much pain. She wishes she could take his pain like Scott can, but all her attempts end in failure.

By the time the sun sets, Malia has barely left Stiles’ side. She got up to go to the bathroom twice, and once because the doctors absolutely had to check on Stiles. Finally, Stiles begins to show some signs of life, other than his heart beat.

Stiles’ eyes blink open and Malia jumps off the bed, careful not to hurt him. She bites her lip as she waits for Stiles to get his bearings.

“Wha…?” Stiles asks.

“Are you in pain?” Malia asks, sounding worried.

“Dunno, is foggy,” Stiles slurs.

“Lydia said that’s because of medicine,” Malia says.

“Is good,” Stiles says.

“You nearly died,” Malia says. “You could have been dead now.”

“Sorry,” Stiles apologizes.

“I don’t want you to die,” Malia admits softly.

“Don’t wanna die,” Stiles agrees.

“Okay, good. No dying.” Malia climbs in bed with Stiles again, cuddling him carefully.

“No dying,” Stiles repeats before drifting back off to sleep.

Sure, life may have been easier in the woods, but she didn’t have Stiles in the woods, Malia realizes. She loves Stiles and she can no longer imagine a life without him. She’ll face whatever weird thing humans do for him.

 

 


End file.
